Getting dressed up!

So excited to be in my cousin Kathryn's wedding this coming June. Not only as a bridesmaid but her matron of honor. So honored to be a part of her wedding. She was a part of mine and having her in my wedding was very special.

This is Kathryn and I at my wedding in May 2008


The not so fun part of being a bridesmaid is the dress. I hate to say it but fitting 3 girls with the same dress with the hopes they will all like it is DIFFICULT. Kathryn's colors for her her wedding are a deep rose red with accents of silver. This is the dress we've ordered

I haven't had the chance to try on the dress so crossing my fingers the dress will at least look decent on me.

Back on Track: Exercise

So for awhile now I've been wanting a bike. Nothing super fancy, nothing too expensive, not too many frills. A few weeks back the hubby gave in and we both bought bikes!


And mine is pink! I originally wanted the powder blue one, but unfortunately my short frame wouldn't fit and I had to settle for a girl's bike. We've taken our bikes out for several rides since we purchased them. It's great that it's something the hubby and I can do together. I think I need to purchase a more comfortable seat though, because my ass hurts every single time I ride. Crossing my fingers this is a hobby that lasts.

Chicken and Mushrooms in Garlic White wine sauce

Do you ever look at a recipe, without having made it, just look at the title and know it's gonna be good? This is that kind of recipe. Chicken - good. Mushrooms - good. Garlic white wine sauce - good.


I started by seasoning my sliced chicken thighs with salt, pepper, and flour. (The recipe calls for chicken breast but decided to use thighs instead since I already had it in the freezer.)

Sauteed the chicken in olive oil until cooked.....

Removed the chicken and added garlic, mushrooms, and basil. I didn't have any tarragon on hand so basil was my substitute....

Added some dry white wine....

Followed by chicken broth...

Let that mixture simmer then put the cooked chicken in the pan....

Simmered for a few more minutes then added the cooked egg noodles....

And the finished product! I know, not very colorful, but it was flavorful. Another keeper for the recipe book!

Cajun Shrimp Casserole

I love shrimp. I love casseroles. I love being able to throw a bunch of ingredients together into a casserole dish, bake it up, and out comes a yummy, comforting meal. This dish was definitely comfort food.


I started by sauteing the onions and bell peppers in butter...


Added minced garlic. (I'm lazy and hate mincing garlic so I always have a jar of this stuff in the fridge.)

Lemon juice and salt next. This is when the okra is put in but I'm not a big fan of okra so left it out of the dish...

Shrimp in next (The hubs and I love shrimp and I always have some in the freezer. I try to get the shrimp that's already been deveined 'cuz deveining takes too.much.time)...

I've never heard of cream of shrimp soup so settled for cream of mushroom soup...

Some dry white wine...

Added in some cooked rice....

Put it in a casserole dish, topped it with parmesan cheese, and 15 minutes later this was the finished product.

This recipe was good and a perfect comfort food meal.

Smothered Pepper Steak

Tuesday's dinner was easy peasy to make. Just a few ingredients and dinner was ready in about 30 minutes. That's my kind of dinner.

See, not too many ingredients...

I started by covering the patties in flour...

Let them brown evenly on both sides...

Added the bell peppers, diced tomatoes, and soy sauce....

Let it all simmer for about 15 minutes....

And served atop steamed rice.

This dish was good but not fantastic. I'd give this recipe another try since it's so easy to make but next time I'll probably make my own patties so I can season them and make this dish more flavorful.

Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange

Last night's dinner was bleh! Crispy Skinned Chicken a l'Orange sounds fancy for plain 'ol orange chicken. I got this recipe from the Food Network website. It looked simple enough and had lots of rave reviews but the hub and I really didn't like this recipe. I substituted chicken thighs for the chicken breasts because I was worried the breast meat would dry out. The glaze was tasty but once we ate the parts of the chicken with the glaze the rest was lacking flavor.

I started by browning the chicken and getting a nice crispy brown on the skin...

While that was cooking I prepped all the ingreidients for the glaze...

Put those together in a pot and brought it to a boil...

Then generously glazed the chicken on both sides throughout the cooking process...

This is the finished product. Looked tasty but that's about it.

Better luck next time, right?

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Last night's dinner was a success! Day 1 down 4 more to go! I love short ribs and knowing they're a tough cut of meat I knew it would take awhile for them to become fork tender - make that 2 hours of braising, but well worth the wait. I got the recipe from all recipes. The recipe also includes the fall smashed veggies but I wasn't in the mood for those so just stuck with the short ribs. I was excited to pull out my le creuset dutch oven for the second time. :-)


I lightly coated the short ribs with flour....

And cooked them until they were browned on all sides...

Prepared my onion, celery, and carrots in the meantime....

Once all the meat was browned I sauteed the onions for about 5 minutes...

Then threw in the carrots, celery, garlic, and rosemary....

Red wine and beef broth added...

Then returned the short ribs back into the pot...

And the finished result!

This was my first time every braising short ribs and they were delicious and soooo tender. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Back on Track: Cooking

So one of my new year's resolutions pertains to cooking. In general I love to cook but every so often I fall in a rut and end up cooking the same ol' dishes or just flat out get lazy and resort to takeout. A while back I was pretty good at pre-planning my meals but the past couple of months we've been eating out way too much or getting takeout. It's gotta change. So my goal for this upcoming week, starting tonight, is to not only cook every single dinner at home but to try 5 new dishes I've never made. While perusing through my usual websites for recipes I came up with these 5 I'll make this week:

Red wine braised short ribs

Crispy skinned chicken a l'orange

Smothered pepper steak

Cajun shrimp casserole

Chicken and mushrooms in garlic white wine sauce

Review of a Decade

Wow! I can't believe we've made it through a decade already in the 21st century. I've had a lot of fun times and a lot of firsts. 2000-2009 has been good to me and so much has gone on in my life this past 10 years I couldn't help but reminisce...


I rang in the new millenium with wonderful friends from grad school...

In the summer of 2000 I went on a whirlwind tour of Europe with my friend Allisyn....


I graduated with my Master's degree in May of 2001...


Afterwards I started my career in the medical field with my first job in the Silicon Valley...


In the summer of 2002 I made the decision to move back to Southern California....

In February of 2003 I took the plunge and tried on-line dating...
In June of 2003 I went on date with this fella and little did I realize it would be the first of many...


In the summer of 2004 I made my first trip ever to Yosemite...


In December 2006 I got engaged on my 30th birthday...


In 2007 we bought our first home and celebrated our first Thanksgiving in it...


New Year's 2008 I camped out and saw the Rose Parade in person for the first time ever...


In May of 2008 we got married...


And afterwards we went on a fun-filled fantastic honeymoon to Walt DisneyWorld...


After our honeymoon, we adopted our 2 cats Sierra and Tiger. This is the first time I've ever owned pets in my entire life...


Yes, indeed! It's been a wonderful past 10 years and I've looking forward to what this new year and the new decade have in store.

Happy New Year!